In a recent incident in Ohio, law enforcement officials have made public the body camera footage of their Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team's response to a mass shooting at a local Walmart.
The footage also includes the discovery of the shooter's lifeless body.
The assailant, identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones of Dayton, initiated the attack in the store at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Monday. Jones reportedly discharged several rounds from his Hi-Point .45-caliber Carbine Long Gun, injuring three women and one man, as per the Beavercreek Police Department.
The released bodycam footage reveals the tense moments as officers, with their firearms at the ready, cautiously navigate the store, passing by Christmas decorations in their search for the shooter. The officers eventually discovered Jones in the store's visitor's center, dead from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
"Got em shooters down," an officer is heard reporting over his radio in the footage.
The exact number of rounds Jones fired before taking his own life remains undetermined by the police. However, witness Alisha Ring, who was shopping in the store at the time, recounted hearing approximately ten shots after Jones walked past her.
"I was literally just shopping for Thanksgiving stuff, and this guy walked right past me with an assault rifle and started shooting," Ring tearfully recounted in a Facebook Live video from the store's parking lot. "He shot like ten times, and I don't even know how much more after that. I just know that I'm so lucky to be alive right now, he literally walked right past me How do people do stuff like this?"
Ring described Jones as a "tall, skinny white guy" who began his shooting spree in the store's freezer section. Upon hearing the gunfire, she immediately fled towards the nearest exit.
Among the four victims of Jones' attack, three are currently stable, while one remains in critical condition, as reported by a representative of the Beavercreek Police Department to Fox News Digital. The department refrained from providing further comments at the time of reporting.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Jones' pickup truck was towed from the store's parking lot and searched, along with his residence, as reported by the New York Post.
The FBI's Cincinnati Field Office is now seeking additional information about the 20-year-old shooter, as announced by the department on Wednesday. Zrinka Dilber, the assistant special agent in charge of the Cincinnati FBI Field Office, informed WLWT that the agency is investigating the suspect's background to determine a possible motive and any potential relationship between Jones and his victims.
A source informed the New York Post that Jones had been admitted to a mental health facility for 72-hour evaluations three times over the past three years, both voluntarily and involuntarily. If this claim is accurate, it raises questions about how Jones acquired his firearm, as federal law prohibits anyone involuntarily committed to a mental institution from legally purchasing a firearm.
"There were warning signs and red flags," the source disclosed on Tuesday. "He talked about right-wing conspiracy theories, that the Holocaust didn't happen; he'd started talking about white supremacy stuff." The source also revealed that Jones was "not socialized" and attended an online Christian school. Jones allegedly displayed a Nazi flag on the wall behind his bed.
This incident marks the second shooting at a Walmart this week, with a man and woman being shot dead at an Anchorage location in Alaska.
In response to the Monday shooting, a Walmart spokesperson stated, "Following Mondays tragedy at our Beavercreek store, our focus has remained on supporting our associates well-being. While speaking with them about when to reopen and resume serving customers, their overwhelming feedback was to do so as soon as possible."
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